


Happily Ever . . . Finally

by starraya



Category: Holby City
Genre: AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 23:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13282422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starraya/pseuds/starraya
Summary: When she is seven years old, Bernie's father dies.When she is seventeen, her Fairy Godmother appears. In a cloud of green smoke and swear words.





	Happily Ever . . . Finally

"Oh, blast it."

  
Are the words that draw Bernie out of her wallowing. She's sat on the step outside, head in her hands. The leaves rustle. She looks up and squints at the dark clump of trees ahead of her.

  
There's the squelch of mud. A thump. And -

  
" _Fuck_."

  
Green smoke drifts from behind the trees, perfumes the night air with - Bernie sniffs - a tang of something sweet, like berries or wine. 

  
"Hello?" Bernie calls out into the night.

  
"Yes," a female voice strains, "Just give me . . . one . . . minute."

  
The green smoke swirls around Bernie. It sparkles. _Wait_. She holds out a hand. _Is that_? Glitter.

  
There's glitter and green smoke and a strange woman and Bernie wonders if its the cheese she devoured at supper. Maybe it was bad. Her stepmother always gives her the scraps. She gave her a hunk of cheese with a strip of mould right through it once.

  
Out from the trees steps a woman, twigs caught in her brunette locks and mud trailing the skirt of her ballgown, her shimmering silver ballgown.

  
Definitely a bad cheese.

  
"Sorry, haven't quite mastered the landing yet," the woman explains, pulling a twig out of her hair, wincing. "Lost my footing."

  
"Right," Bernie squeaks, voice lost.

  
"Oh, yes, yes. Introductions." The woman strides over, grips Bernie's hand. Shakes. "Serena Campbell. Your Fairy Godmother."

  
"My what?"

  
"Fairy Godmother."

  
"Aren't you . . . " Bernie stutters, "meant to be . . . well . . ."

  
"Yes?"

  
"Aren't Fairy Godmothers old?"

  
"Well, we do have to train you know. We don't magically pop up, silver-haired and sprouting words of wisdom."

  
"So you're a trainee?"

  
"First day." Serena smiles. "Now, Berenice, lets see about getting you to that ball."

  
-

  
"Okay, then." Serena lowers her wand, steps back to observe her handiwork.

  
Bernie shuffles on the spot.

 

"Well?"

  
"I got it right. Blue is definitely your colour. Brings out your eyes."

  
"And?"

  
Serena taps her wand against her lips. Narrows her eyes at the blonde nest atop Bernie's head.

  
"Your hair. That's not just part of the rags thing you've got going on, is it?"

  
"Why?"

  
"I can't seem to change it. And I can only change, outwardly, the parts of you that are not your true self."

  
"So this," Bernie sweeps a hand across the sparkling skirt of her ballgown. "This is my true self?"

  
"No."

  
"No?"

  
"My job is only to guide you to your true self. To your," Serena raises her voice, "happy ever after. I can point you in the direction of the rainbow, but it is you that must follow it. It is you that must believe in it. Without believing in it, you can't possibly hope to see it."

  
Bernie smirks. "Tell me, did you rehearse that with cue cards?"

  
"Okay, I'll admit, it sounded better in class. But," Serena aims her wand at a nearby pumpkin, transforming it to a carriage in a spark of green, "you can never be too prepared."

  
In the far off distance, there is a crackle of fireworks. "The party," Serena exclaims, hurrying Bernie into the carriage, "quick!"

  
The carriage doesn't move.

  
"Opps. Horses." Serena's waves her wand again. Four horses pop up.

  
"Now remember these things: those slippers are real glass so be careful, the Prince is obligated to dance with every girl at the ball so make sure he sees you, and, most importantly," Serena pauses, searching her mind for words that won't appear, before settling on a cheery, "have a gay time!"

  
The carriage whooshes off towards the castle.

  
Serena furrows her brow. She feels like she's misplaced something. Forgotten something. 

 

Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

  
"Be back by midnight!" She calls into the night, but it is too late.

  
-

_Quarter Past Midnight_

 

Serenawaitsoutside the castle doors, shuffling from foot to foot.

 

She drops it, nearly jumping out of her skin.

 

"Can you wear louder shoes, please?"

 

"Haven't got any." 

 

"Oh, Berenice, I'm sorry I forget to tell you -"

 

"It all disappears at the strike of twelve? I had to run from Marcus."

 

Serena wraps her arms around Bernie, feels the coarse material of her day dress. 

 

"You're freezing." 

 

Serena draws back, rubs Bernie's arms.

 

"It's Bernie." 

 

"Sorry?"

 

"My name. I like Bernie." 

 

The crack in Bernie's voice cracks Serena's heart in half

 

"I'm so sorry." She pins her owm cloak around Bernie, forgetting magic altogether. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Serena's eyes are wide and earnest. "Did I get tonight all wrong?"

 

Bernie shakes her head. Her words - her confession - stick in her throat. 

 

-

_34 years later_

  
"Serena?" Bernie gasps.

  
One minute Bernie was in the rose gardens, crying after another fight with Marcus, the next she was in Serena's . . . dressing room?

  
"What the . . ." Serena sees Bernie's face behind her in the mirror, twists around in her chair. Her face is free from the creams and lotions on the counter and a thin silver dressing gown is tied around her waist.

  
"I didn't know you . . ."

  
There are many ends to her sentence. She didn't know Serena had a dressing room, she didn't know Fairy Godmothers needed a dressing, she didn't know, Bernie looks around the room, that Serena lived in a cottage. All these decades - Serena had blessed her marriage, her children at each of their births, had attended every royal ball, sometimes even sitting next to Bernie on the table, sharing a bottle of red with her. All these decades, and Bernie had never asked Serena why she lived.

  
"It's your tears," Serena explains to Bernie. "They're the connection. They're what brought me to you that night. Sometimes, it works both ways."

  
"Really?"

  
"Yeah, happens quite often," Serena's lies, fingers toying with the pendant of her necklace, silver, to match her hair - hopes Bernie won't see the tears ready to fall in her own eyes.

  
"Right . . then . . ." Bernie can't turn out the door. She's never even thought it before, but she needs to ask. "Are you . . . Fairy Godmother to other people?"

  
"Why would you ask?"

  
"I don't know, I just . . ."

  
"Didn't think I had a life outside of you?"

  
"Of course not, I . . ."

  
"I bless other people, at their weddings, at their birthdays. I take children's fallen teeth. I teach young girls the magical arts. I have a life. And I can't do this anymore Bernie." Serena stands up. "I can't help you decide how to make up with Marcus again."

  
"We . . . we broke up. For real this time. "Bernie eyes flit to the floor. "It's not working. It never worked." 

 

"Then why did you stay?"

  
"Because," Bernie takes a deep breath, "after father passed I wanted to make him proud. He thought I would make something of myself, not scrub dirty floors for a living. But I had no money. Nothing. And I thought I knew the way out. But my step-sisters ripped my dress, and all my hopes were dashed. And then you appeared. Like a miracle. And I went to the ball and I got the Prince. I got what every girl in the Kingdom wanted."

  
Bernie drifts towards Serena, until there is only a ribbon of space between them.

  
"But it was never what I wanted. It's not what I want."

  
"And what is that?" Serena's voice trembles.

  
"It's more of a wish." Bernie tenderly brushes a thumb across Serena's cheek.

  
"Well, luckily, I happen to know a girl who's into that kind of thing," Serena chuckles, but tears glisten in her eyes.

  
"You do?"

  
Serena replies with a kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you're thinking what the fuck did I just read, I once wrote another Berena fairytale AU with a lady in shining armour, a dragon and a princess. At least this one was not inspired by Shrek.
> 
> Also me up at two O'clock procrastinating the misery that is living. Yep.


End file.
